Hi again everyone,
It looks like there was no real interest in continuing to discuss The Fountainhead and that's ok. I wonder though, if it's because it's such a huge book and that the "discussion" was very loose and unstructured. So, to address that for future rounds, I think it might be helpful and make it more enjoyable for us all if we didn't wait until finishing the book to discuss it. Perhaps we could break future readings into sections and discuss only those sections as we pass through them and then the book as a whole when we finish. What do you think? I also have the feeling that this will help people stay on track. In the spirit of staying on track, I think that it would be helpful for everyone participating if whoever is in charge of leading #hubskibookclub, could send out friendly reminders. So for example, let's say that we had split The Fountainhead into its different sections, then the leader could send out a reminder at about the half-way mark of the agreed-upon reading period.
I am open to suggestions as far as how the running of #hubskibookclub should go, but I think if we agree on how we're going to structure the thing and how we'll participate in it, it will be a lot more manageable.
hiss has suggested some really interesting books in the previous thread and I would suggest that the books suggested by hiss and everyone else be considered for future #hubskibookclub reading.
Here is a list:
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Boss by Mike Royko
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson
Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
any books by Cormac McCarthy
Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek
Morvern Callar by Alan Warner
Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
If you have any additional suggestions, please feel free to let me know.
Next, the pool for rotating #hubskibookclub leadership is currently (including me):
If anyone else would like to join the Pool of Rotating Leadership (sounds like an item from an RPG, right?) please let me know. So, I'll lead this round of #hubskibookclub and we'll decide who goes next later.
It looks like people are most interested in reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, with The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašekso as a close second, that's what we'll read for next time. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that this is a long book. A really long book. In fact, longer than The Fountainhead. Again, I'm going to strongly recommend that we break this up into parts and discuss those parts as we work our way through.
Lastly, for future reference and shoutouts, here is the current shoutout list:
StJohn, DiamondLou86, AnSionnachRua, _refugee_, minimum_wage, flagamuffin, fuffle, b_b, hugitout, JakobVirgil, zebra2, AdSeriatim, mk, thenewgreen, SufficientGrace, ecib, kleinbl00, cliffelam, hootsbox, lil, rezzeJ, cgod, blackbootz, onehunna, AshShields, BLOB_CASTLE, insomniasexx, kuli, cowboyhaze, seatraveler, Floatbox, maynard, hiss, GodOfAtheism, NikolaiFyodorov, Meriadoc
Here it is without formatting, for easy cutting and pasting:
@StJohn@, @DiamondLou86@, @AnSionnachRua@, @_refugee_@, @minimum_wage@, @flagamuffin@, @fuffle@, @b_b@, @hugitout@, @JakobVirgil@, @zebra2@, @AdSeriatim@, @mk@, @thenewgreen@, @SufficientGrace@, @ecib@, @kleinbl00@, @cliffelam@, @hootsbox@, @lil@, @rezzeJ@, @cgod@, @blackbootz@, @onehunna@, @AshShields@, @BLOB_CASTLE@, @insomniasexx@, @kuli@, @cowboyhaze@, @seatraveler@, @Floatbox@, @maynard@, @hiss@, @GodOfAtheism@, @NikolaiFyodorov@, @Meriadoc@
Once again, we are reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Edit: Apparently the book is broken up into 5 parts, so we'll set a schedule for reading and discussing the parts as well as the whole book. I'll wait a few days for people to get copies in their hands before posting the reading plan.
If you feel like you can manage to fit in part of a book chosen for the book club, I don't think anyone would mind if you joined the conversation. I understand it can be tough finding time to read, let alone a mammoth of a book (which seems to be the length of choice with this crowd).
I've always meant to read the satanic verses. I won't pout if it's not chosen, just putting my two cents. Also as another suggestion, I would like to start book one of In Search of Lost Time. That is a project, however, and maybe not right for a book club.
I have always wanted to read it too, FYI. Also, I own a copy already which would be convenient. If not this time, perhaps next?
I'm the one who suggested it, and currently I'm about halfway through the book. It's really easy and fun to read, and incredibly interesting. Since others are showing interest, perhaps I will make that my choice when the leadership comes around to me. OTHERS: Let me know if you're also interested!
This round's book was chosen because of the the amount of interest shown in the previous thread. I hope that by conducting the book club in a more structured way, it will encourage people to participate. The more people we have expressing opinions about which books to read, the better, in my opinion. You might ask people if they'd be interested in reading In Search of Lost Time (I've never heard of it) with you. I think that it would be cool if there were several book clubs reading books of different nature that people could join and participate in as they please. There are certainly some daunting books out there that I'd love to read with the knowledge that other people are reading them too and they'd also be interested in discussing their thoughts, feelings and opinions on the material. But again, participation is both the fuel and the engine of these things! Why do you think In Search of Lost Time might not be right for a book club? Edit: I did not realize that the book you are referring to is also known in English as Remembrance of Things Past. I see what you mean about it being a project, but I think if you got some people willing to tackle the material that it would be worth taking a stab at it.
I would have never read the Fountainhead had it not been suggested. I'd rather read books that I am actually interested in reading. I'm in for this round and I look forward to the discussions. I think the five-part breakdown is a great idea. Thanks for taking this approach.
I really appreciate getting these shoutouts, and I agree that inserting discussions into certain sections of the book is the way to go.